Magister Educationis - MEd (Language Education)

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    Additive Bilingualism or ‘Straight-for-English’? The linguistic and cultural impact of different approaches to the teaching of English on children in two Chinese schools
    (University of the Western Cape, 2005) Chunyan, Ma; Dyers, Charlyn; NULL; Faculty of Education
    This study examines the impact of two different models of teaching English to Chinese children, to see whether it meets learners’ needs. These two different approaches appear to lead to different result for children. The results of the analysis appear to show that this teaching programme is failing the children at Z’SL. Therefore, the course needs to be reviewed and improved. Four research tools were used in this study: interviews, questionnaires, classroom observation, and document analysis. Interviews and questionnaires were distributed to coordinators and teachers at both schools. Questionnaires were also distributed to the parents of students. Classroom observation was done during normal class time by the researcher. The document analysis dealt with the analysis of the textbooks. The results of the study appear to show that the teaching programme in English at Z’SL has failed to meet the children’s needs. The materials are not designed for young learner’s needs. They just emphasize the four skills of English in an English environment, but neglect the relatively unstable language situation of the children. The teaching methodology emphasized the direct method, but neglected children’s needs. Children should be taught to know how to use a language in the society they live in and to learn a second language effectively for actual use. This study concludes that two-way bilingual education and the cognitive developmental approach are most effective to develop dual language proficiency for Chinese children in their native language and English in order to bring up the children as members of Chinese society. Additive bilingualism education is also appropriate for Chinese children when the home language is a majority language and the school is adding a second minority or majority language. Another consideration is that collaboration between parents and teachers is more effective to provide opportunities for children to maintain their own language and culture while children acquire a second language
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    An Investigation into the Impact of an Extensive Reading Programme on the Reading Proficiency and Reading Motivation of a Class of Grade 9 Learners
    (University of Western Cape, 2016) Hanslo, Karen L.; Probyn, M.
    Although more than twenty years have passed since South Africa became a democracy and one education department was established, learners from poor socio-economic backgrounds still do not achieve good results in their matric examination. Despite the fact that educational opportunities should be equal for all learners, previously disadvantaged learners perform extremely poorly in national and international reading assessments. And because reading is a gateway skill, poor reading proficiency impacts negatively on learning across the curriculum. This contributes to major dropout rates and reinforces social problems such as unemployment. The literature on reading proficiency and reading motivation suggests that extensive reading programmes are successful both in developing and improving learners" reading proficiency and in motivating learners to adopt regular reading as a habit. Regular reading could also incidentally improve learners writing and verbal skills.
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    A case study of academic staff participation in decision making In a college of education in the Northern province
    (University of the Western Cape, 1999) Mhlanga, Hazel; Kruss, Glenda
    The advent of a democratic government in South Africa in 1994 inevitably resulted in initiative for transformation in various sectors of society, including education. Educational institutions have been under constant pressure to transform from authoritarian governance to participatory governance which provides for stakeholder participation in decision making. Research about governance at college level was found to be of importance in the context of the national call made by the government for educational transformation. A review of the literature focused on two models of governance, namely, participatory governance and authoritarian governance. The literature review provided a conceptual framework in which to locate an understanding of the dynamics of governance at institutional level
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    Common barriers to learning in the grade 10 English home language classroom and informed (innovative) ways in dealing with them in high school
    (University of the Western Cape, 2015-11) Frank, Mark; Sivasubramaniam, Sivakumar
    The purpose of this study was to explore informed ways of teaching when confronted with the kind of common barriers in grade 10 visible both in and out of the classroom. This qualitative study describes the innovative methods that teachers use. The theoretical framework undergirding this study is effective teacher research. The research design involved interviews of twelve Grade 10 learners, focus group and observations of two teachers. In addition, two student teachers in their final year were also observed. The research captured teaching methods that are already known. However, the research in this thesis also added some new dimensions that many teachers might not know or might not be using in their classroom. These teaching methods revealed the extent to which effective teachers will go to make a difference for their learners. The teaching methods harnessed “the ability from the learner to recreate, imagine and empower their understanding of the world they live in” (CAPS). The findings of the study reveal that creative ways of teaching has the ability to bring about the essential improvement of learner achievement. This falls in line with the South African Education comprehensive programme, which is referred to as Action Plan 2014: Towards the Realization of Schooling 2025.
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    Developing the academic literacy of isiXhosa-speaking learners in an Afrikaans-medium school in the Intermediate Phase
    (University of Western Cape, 2016) Fortuin, Eloise; Probyn, Margie
    South Africa in its multilingual state presents many challenges for teachers to achieve the task of developing learners? academic literacy. Many learners in South Africa either do not have the privilege or access to mother tongue instruction. Thus, in some instances, teachers are faced with the challenge of having to instruct a minority of isiXhosa speaking learners whose mother tongue is different from the Language of Learning and Teaching (LoLT) of the school and the majority of the class. There have been numerous studies that investigate what strategies teachers can use when they share the MT of the learners, such as the use of code-switching This study looks at teachers who are Afrikaans-speaking and teach in an Afrikaans-medium school, and how they develop the academic literacy of a minority of isiXhosa-speaking learners in Grade 4.
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    Early literacy development in IsiXhosa: Fostering grade 3 learners’ imagination and critical thinking through folktales
    (University of the Western Cape, 2021) Bara, Mlamli; Nomlomo, V
    This study investigated the use of folktales in enhancing literacy development among Grade 3 isiXhosa-speaking learners in one Western Cape primary school. It was inspired by my quest to explain the low literacy performance levels of Foundation Phase learners, especially those taught through the medium of African languages. Although learners are taught in their mother-tongue in this phase, the reported national literacy results do not reflect this educational advantage. Education reports continually indicate low literacy levels in the Annual National Assessments (ANAs). Underdeveloped literacy skills are likely to have a negative impact on the child’s academic progress throughout and beyond the schooling years. This study focused on the use of folktales in fostering imaginative and critical thinking as folktales present language in its natural state. They are regarded as the best tool for whole language and literacy development. Folktales are central to the indigenous knowledge system (IKS) which is an educational and cultural tool that exposes children to oral literacy, even before they acquire literacy My enquiry is premised on the idea that technology should not replace the indigenous knowledge that may be acquired through folktales. Instead, deeper sustainable research into the role of folktales in children’s acquisition of indigenous knowledge is of paramount importance for generating creative and analytical responses and for understanding the role of folktales in young children’s education. For these reasons this study applied qualitative research methodology to investigate how teachers make use of folktales to enhance Grade 3 learners’ literacy skills in isiXhosa. It drew on Sociocultural Theory to explore their pedagogical strategies in this endeavour.The findings show that folktales are oral epistemic tools which may be utilised to foster a learnercentred approach that promotes learners’ ability to grasp ideas. The study concludes that folktales are instruments of pedagogical, social and cultural knowledge which may be used across the curriculum.
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    Exploring first-year students’ voice and subjectivity in academic writing at a university in South Africa
    (University of the Western Cape, 2020) Bi Ambe, Martina; Sivasubramaniam, Sivakumar
    Literacy development in South African higher education is increasingly challenged by several issues in dialogue and language of tuition. Despite the widening of access to South African universities, research shows that a large majority of entry-level university students are still failing in their chosen programme of studies. Almost all universities in the democratic South Africa incorporate academic development programs in first-year modules as an awareness raising attempt to scaffold novice students into the vocabulary of their various disciplines. However, these development programs sometimes fail to address the language needs of some of the students who have had more than seven years of schooling in their first languages (IsiXhosa and Afrikaans). My study seeks to explore how additional language IsiXhosa and Afrikaans students understand and construct written knowledge in one literacy development course using English medium of instruction. I further explore lecturers’ and tutors’ perspectives of the demand of sounding a scholarly voice in academic writing by entry-level students in their new roles as scholars in the University of the Western Cape (UWC). Literature indicated gaps when it comes to students’ and lectures’ perceptions on the construction of voice in academic writing in a language that the students are not comfortable in. My choice to use an interpretive frame made my study a qualitative one. I used a case study approach in which qualitative data was collected from one-on-one in-depth interviews with fourteen participants, documents analysis and field notes collected during interview process. A constructivist view of knowledge further guided my study to support the view of knowledge being socially constructed in the process of enquiry. My findings were categorised according to the research questions and themes that emerged from my analysis. The four themes from my presentation guided the findings. The findings of this study indicated that, IsiXhosa and Afrikaans students in the study used their first languages as resource to understand, formal English in essay of assignments. The lecturers’ perspectives of voice showed differences in the students’ perceptions who were mostly overwhelmed with the proactive life of academia and the language they are required to write in. In this context, the lectures’ views of competence mismatched with students’ views who felt their views were stranded in the language of discomfort (English).
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    Exploring first-year Students’ Voice and Subjectivity in Academic Writing at a University in South Africa
    (University of the Western Cape, 2019) Ambe, Martina Bi; Sivasubramaniam, Sivakumar
    Literacy development in South African higher education is increasingly challenged by several issues in dialogue and language of tuition. Despite the widening of access to South African universities, research shows that a large majority of entry-level university students are still failing in their chosen programme of studies. Almost all universities in the democratic South Africa incorporate academic development programs in first-year modules as an awareness raising attempt to scaffold novice students into the vocabulary of their various disciplines. However, these development programs sometimes fail to address the language needs of some of the students who have had more than seven years of schooling in their first languages (IsiXhosa and Afrikaans). My study seeks to explore how additional language IsiXhosa and Afrikaans students understand and construct written knowledge in one literacy development course using English medium of instruction. I further explore lecturers’ and tutors’ perspectives of the demand of sounding a scholarly voice in academic writing by entry-level students in their new roles as scholars in the University of the Western Cape (UWC).Literature indicated gaps when it comes to students’ and lectures’ perceptions on the construction of voice in academic writing in a language that the students are not comfortable in.
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    Exploring the potential of digital storytelling in the teaching of academic writing at a higher education institution in the Western Cape
    (Language Education in the Faculty of Education, University, 2019) Mkaza, linda; mkaza, linda
    Writing is an important skill throughout learners’ schooling trajectory because it is through writing that learners need to situate meaning and sense-making across the curriculum. Writing proficiency becomes even more important when learners access tertiary studies. Yet studies suggest that most students struggle with academic writing. Various authors suggest that writing has not been taught appropriately especially in secondary schooling contexts in South Africa and that writing becomes even more daunting for Second Language speakers of English when they reach tertiary education. There is abundant literature on students’ challenges with academic writing and ways to address academic writing challenges but the use of digital storytelling in relation to academic writing development is recent and distinctively underexplored in the literature.
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    Exploring the potential of digital storytelling in the teaching of academic writing at a higher education institution in the Western Cape
    (University of the Western Cape, 2019) Mkaza, Linda
    In this study, I seek to explore the potential that digital storytelling has in the teaching of undergraduate academic writing skills. I will focus on first year students' academic writing skills, how they are taught currently and how technology in the form of digital storytelling can help first year students improve their academic writing skills. The theoretical framework for the study is largely based on the New Literacies Studies which is championed by members of the New London Group such as Street and Street (1984) Lea and Street (2006) among others. The theoretical framework will draw on the notion of literacy as social practice rather than a set of reading and writing skills which explains why educators need to find new ways of teaching academic writing skills. I use semiotics and multimodality as a foundational concept for using digital storytelling in academic writing. That is because semiotics and multimodality further support the idea that literacy goes beyond words but that audio and visual elements are also part of learning and can help engage students in their academic work. The main aim of this proposed research is to explore both students and lecturer practices of digital literacies in the teaching and learning of academic writing at The Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT).
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    Exploring the potential of digital storytelling in the teaching of academic writing at a higher education institution in the Western Cape
    (University of the Western Cape, 2019) Mkaza, Linda
    Writing is an important skill throughout learners’ schooling trajectory because it is through writing that learners need to situate meaning and sense-making across the curriculum. Writing proficiency becomes even more important when learners access tertiary studies. Yet studies suggest that most students struggle with academic writing. Various authors suggest that writing has not been taught appropriately especially in secondary schooling contexts in South Africa and that writing becomes even more daunting for Second Language speakers of English when they reach tertiary education. There is abundant literature on students’ challenges with academic writing and ways to address academic writing challenges but the use of digital storytelling in relation to academic writing development is recent and distinctively underexplored in the literature. In this study, I seek to explore the potential that digital storytelling has in the teaching of undergraduate academic writing skills. I will focus on first year students' academic writing skills, how they are taught currently and how technology in the form of digital storytelling can help first year students improve their academic writing skills. The theoretical framework for the study is largely based on the New Literacies Studies which is championed by members of the New London Group such as Street and Street (1984) Lea and Street (2006) among others. The theoretical framework will draw on the notion of literacy as social practice rather than a set of reading and writing skills which explains why educators need to find new ways of teaching academic writing skills. I use semiotics and multimodality as a foundational concept for using digital storytelling in academic writing. That is because semiotics and multimodality further support the idea that literacy goes beyond words but that audio and visual elements are also part of learning and can help engage students in their academic work. The main aim of this proposed research is to explore both students and lecturer practices of digital literacies in the teaching and learning of academic writing at The Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT).
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    Exploring the potential of digital storytelling in the teaching of academic writing at a higher education institution in the Western Cape
    (University of The Western Cape, 2019) Mkaza, Linda Olive; Sivasubramaniam, Sivakumar
    Writing is an important skill throughout learners’ schooling trajectory because it is through writing that learners need to situate meaning and sense-making across the curriculum. Writing proficiency becomes even more important when learners access tertiary studies. Yet studies suggest that most students struggle with academic writing. Various authors suggest that writing has not been taught appropriately especially in secondary schooling contexts in South Africa and that writing becomes even more daunting for Second Language speakers of English when they reach tertiary education. There is abundant literature on students’ challenges with academic writing and ways to address academic writing challenges but the use of digital storytelling in relation to academic writing development is recent and distinctively underexplored in the literature.
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    Exploring the potential of digital storytelling in the teaching of academic writing at a higher education institution in the Western Cape
    (university of western cape, 2020) Mkaza, Linda Olive; Sivasubramaniam, Sivakumar
    Writing is an important skill throughout learners’ schooling trajectory because it is through writing that learners need to situate meaning and sense-making across the curriculum. Writing proficiency becomes even more important when learners access tertiary studies. Yet studies suggest that most students struggle with academic writing. Various authors suggest that writing has not been taught appropriately especially in secondary schooling contexts in South Africa and that writing becomes even more daunting for Second Language speakers of English when they reach tertiary education. There is abundant literature on students’ challenges with academic writing and ways to address academic writing challenges but the use of digital storytelling in relation to academic writing development is recent and distinctively underexplored in the literature.
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    Exploring the potential of digital storytelling in the teaching of academic writing at a higher education institution in the Western Cape
    (University of the Western Cape, 2019-12) Mkaza, Linda
    Writing is an important skill throughout learners’ schooling trajectory because it is through writing that learners need to situate meaning and sense-making across the curriculum. Writing proficiency becomes even more important when learners access tertiary studies. Yet studies suggest that most students struggle with academic writing. Various authors suggest that writing has not been taught appropriately especially in secondary schooling contexts in South Africa and that writing becomes even more daunting for Second Language speakers of English when they reach tertiary education. There is abundant literature on students’ challenges with academic writing and ways to address academic writing challenges but the use of digital storytelling in relation to academic writing development is recent and distinctively underexplored in the literature. In this study, I seek to explore the potential that digital storytelling has in the teaching of undergraduate academic writing skills. I will focus on first year students' academic writing skills, how they are taught currently and how technology in the form of digital storytelling can help first year students improve their academic writing skills. The theoretical framework for the study is largely based on the New Literacies Studies which is championed by members of the New London Group such as Street and Street (1984) Lea and Street (2006) among others. The theoretical framework will draw on the notion of literacy as social practice rather than a set of reading and writing skills which explains why educators need to find new ways of teaching academic writing skills. I use semiotics and multimodality as a foundational concept for using digital storytelling in academic writing. That is because semiotics and multimodality further support the idea that literacy goes beyond words but that audio and visual elements are also part of learning and can help engage students in their academic work. The main aim of this proposed research is to explore both students and lecturer practices of digital literacies in the teaching and learning of academic writing at The Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT).
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    Exploring the potential of digital storytelling in the teaching of academic writing at a higher education institution in the Western Cape
    (University of the Western Cape, 2019) Mkaza, Linda Olive; Sivasubramaniam, Sivakumar
    Writing is an important skill throughout learners’ schooling trajectory because it is through writing that learners need to situate meaning and sense-making across the curriculum. Writing proficiency becomes even more important when learners access tertiary studies. Yet studies suggest that most students struggle with academic writing. Various authors suggest that writing has not been taught appropriately especially in secondary schooling contexts in South Africa and that writing becomes even more daunting for Second Language speakers of English when they reach tertiary education. There is abundant literature on students’ challenges with academic writing and ways to address academic writing challenges but the use of digital storytelling in relation to academic writing development is recent and distinctively underexplored in the literature. In this study, I seek to explore the potential that digital storytelling has in the teaching of undergraduate academic writing skills. I will focus on first year students' academic writing skills, how they are taught currently and how technology in the form of digital storytelling can help first year students improve their academic writing skills. The theoretical framework for the study is largely based on the New Literacies Studies which is championed by members of the New London Group such as Street and Street (1984) Lea and Street (2006) among others. The theoretical framework will draw on the notion of literacy as social practice rather than a set of reading and writing skills which explains why educators need to find new ways of teaching academic writing skills. I use semiotics and multimodality as a foundational concept for using digital storytelling in academic writing. That is because semiotics and multimodality further support the idea that literacy goes beyond words but that audio and visual elements are also part of learning and can help engage students in their academic work. The main aim of this proposed research is to explore both students and lecturer practices of digital literacies in the teaching and learning of academic writing at The Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). I propose the following research objectives: (i.) elucidate current academic writing scaffolding in academic modules; (ii.) draw on the use of digital storytelling in a first-year undergraduate course; (iii.) shed light on lecturers and students’ perceptions of the ways digital storytelling impacts on first-year academic writing; (iv.) highlight the implications of infusing multimodality into academic writing in this context; and (v.) explore the ways first-year students’ take on new writing practices and how these new practices are facilitated by the ii lecturer. I plan to use a qualitative research method to achieve my set objectives. I have opted to conduct action research, as both participant and researcher. The qualitative research method allows me to use the following research tools: document analysis; questionnaires and interviews. I analyse 15 student essays in order to elucidate current academic writing scaffolding in academic modules. These essays are divided into three categories: high performance; average performance; and low performance. Then questionnaires are distributed to students through a Google Forms link. Of the 40 student participants; 32 students filled in the questionnaires. The interviews were conducted with three lecturers across two departments at CPUT. These interviews, together with questionnaires that the students filled in served to address the following objectives: draw on the use of digital storytelling in a first-year undergraduate course; shed light on lecturers and students’ perceptions of the ways digital storytelling impacts on first-year academic writing; highlight the implications of infusing multimodality into academic writing in this context; and explore the ways first-year students’ take on new writing practices and how these new practices are facilitated by the lecturer. All the ethical considerations were adhered to for my research. I categorized my findings according to the research questions that I posed in the study. There were three research questions which serve as the three main themes of my data analysis. However, during the process of analyzing the data, a fourth theme emerged. The first finding indicates that academic writing scaffolding in academic writing modules is adequate for students who have essays in the high-performance category. However, it is inadequate especially for students who wrote essays in the low performance categories as they could not meet the demands of academic writing. The second finding indicates that students are able to use digital storytelling to help them with various aspects of academic writing. They are able to improve language and grammar; the structure of their writing, that is, the introduction, body and conclusion. The third finding illustrates that lecturers also feel that there are academic writing benefits to when using digital storytelling. Even though that may be, the use of technology for the medium of digital storytelling proved to be somewhat difficult. That is mostly because students did not have access to various technology such as internet connection or even equipment to complete the digital stories unproblematically. Then the fourth finding emerged during lecturer interviews, that is, fees must fall protests and the impact it had on the traditional university structure across. Fees must fall protests led to disruptions in academia because one key aspect they highlight is the need for decolonisation of the curriculum The use of digital storytelling then not only addressed the student academic writing challenges that are highlighted by this study, but also speak to decolonisation of the curriculum because it is an innovative way for students to engage with the demands of academic writing. The conclusion of my thesis is that as useful as digital storytelling is in academic writing; those who wish to use it as a teaching tool need to be well versed with technology as it can have challenges if not used adequately. The most pertinent of the factors revealed is that there is a need for innovative ways to teach the 21st century student.
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    Exploring the potential of digital storytelling in the teaching of academic writing at a higher education institution in the Western Cape
    (university of western cape, 2020) Makaza, Linda Olive; Sivasubramaniam, Sivakumar
    Writing is an important skill throughout learners’ schooling trajectory because it is through writing that learners need to situate meaning and sense-making across the curriculum. Writing proficiency becomes even more important when learners access tertiary studies. Yet studies suggest that most students struggle with academic writing. Various authors suggest that writing has not been taught appropriately especially in secondary schooling contexts in South Africa and that writing becomes even more daunting for Second Language speakers of English when they reach tertiary education. There is abundant literature on students’ challenges with academic writing and ways to address academic writing challenges but the use of digital storytelling in relation to academic writing development is recent and distinctively underexplored in the literature.
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    A Genre-based analysis of Intermediate Phase English Home Language textbooks
    (University of the Western Cape, 2021) du Plessis, Jason Malcolm; Plüddemann, Peter
    In South Africa the variety of languages in use requires of the department of education that a balance be struck between the potential this presents for enhancing multilingual practice, and the effort required for uplifting learners’ literacy levels and linguistic competence. This makes being an English Home Language teacher in South Africa a daunting task. Studies have shown that many in-service teachers have difficulty implementing the curriculum and its underlying approaches to language teaching, notably the text-based approach. If the stipulations of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) are to be realized, it therefore seems pertinent that Learner-Teacher support materials (LTSMs) be investigated. As textbooks constitute a crucial aspect of these LTSMs, my enquiry is aimed at analysing the genre-based approach of the Intermediate Phase (IP) (Grades 4-6) as it is presented in the Pearson Platinum English Home Language textbook series. The purpose of the study is thus to gain an understanding of how textbooks contribute to the teaching and learning of English Home Language as school subject in the IP. The study focuses on one textbook per IP Grade and sets out to determine how texts are organised and named. The intention is to explore the alignment between the language features promulgated by the CAPS curriculum, and set text types. My thesis covers the extent to which textbook activities are sequenced according to the stages of the Teaching and Learning (curriculum) Cycle, and actually implement a text-based approach that helps learners to respond competently to tasks within a Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach. The literature review outlines the main language teaching and learning approaches which underpin the curriculum of all language subjects in the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS), namely the text-based and communicative approaches. My analysis is based on the Systemic Functional Linguistics framework and outlines the stages of the teaching and learning cycle. I investigate how this cycle is used to implement a genre-based approach with a focus on teaching the information report and explanation genres. This qualitative study involves data selection processes guided by the objectives, and a deductive document analysis. As it is a relatively small study, its findings are not intended to create generalisations, but rather to shed light on how a communicative/text-based approach may be better applied in textbook production. I believe that through this approach, teachers have the opportunity to foster greater access to and control of the ‘genres of power’, in other words, factual genres and text types. The findings suggest that the text-based and communicative approaches are superficially applied by CAPS, and subsequently in a similar way in the materials developed for textbooks. Key findings include terminological instability in CAPS insofar as descriptions of text types are concerned, a misalignment between the language features and text types to be studied, and the absence of scaffolded teaching and learning so crucial to implementing a text-based communicative approach in the curriculum cycle.
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    Identity construction through English second language learning : a case study of French speaking students at the University of the Western Cape
    (University of the Western Cape, 2014) Wunseh, Quinta Kemende; Nomlomo, Vuyokazi
    The purpose of this case study was to investigate how the Francophone students from Congo, Gabon and Cameroon negotiated competence and identities in English (L2) in and outside the classroom. The study also aimed at understanding the nature and extent of academic support that was made available to the Francophone students who had to learn through the medium of English (L2) at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). Through the lens of the sociocultural and poststructural theories, the study argues that identity construction in a second language is a fluid phenomenon which should be understood within a particular context, particularly in multilingual environments like UWC. The study followed a qualitative research design which involved three methods of data collection, namely, observations, semi-structured interviews and student narratives. A thematic analytical framework was used to understand the Francophone students’ experiences, and how they negotiated and (re)constructed competence and identity in English (L2) in the lecture rooms and in local communities. The findings of the study indicate that English (L2) was perceived as an investment by the Francophone students. They show that competence in English (L2) was a source of voice and agency for the students. They also illustrate that there is a close relationship between (second) language learning and identity construction, and that identity is socially constructed. The study concludes that identity construction is a fluid phenomenon which should be understood in relation to the changing social context, which is embedded in language competence.
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    The impact of video stimulated recall on the continuous professional development of in-service mathematics teachers
    (University of the Western Cape, 2022) Williams, Geoneal Wade; Nel, Benita P
    This study analysed mathematics teachers‘ reflection through Video Stimulated Recall (VSR), by investigating whether the four participating teachers change their teaching behaviour, after witnessing their live lesson presentations via video recordings. These teachers were from two different schools that taught mathematics in the intermediate and senior phases. The goal of the investigation was to contribute to the professional development (PD) of mathematics teachers, through VSR. The study aimed to investigate how mathematics teachers develop through the use of VSR. The findings of this study may assist teachers to enhance self-reflection through a real time view of their lessons. The findings may also provide teachers authenticity to improve their teaching practices. Thus, a series of lessons were video recorded, observed, and analysed by the participants and the researcher.
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    Investigating approaches to the teaching of writing in english as a second language in senior phase classrooms in the western cape
    (2012) Caroline Modupe, Akinyeye; Peter, Plüddemann
    South Africa in the past-apartheid era has undergone a series of curriculum changes that collectively have not yet yielded the desired results. Evidence of this is to be found in the continued low pass rates and poor performance in the annual National Senior Certificate (Grade 12) examinations, including the subject English as a First Additional Language (EFAL). Apart from language policy considerations, reasons related to the teaching approach used in EFAL may have a bearing on the results.The Revised National Curriculum Statement (RNCS) recommends the use of a text-(genre) approach, alongside a communicative approach, to the teaching of languages in schools to replace the old content-based methods with their aims and objectives. While the old curriculum did advocate communicative language teaching, the addition is a text-based approach. This study focuses on investigating the various approaches teachers employ in the teaching of English writing and specifically seeks to identify the extent to which a text-based approach is realized in the teaching of EFAL in Grade 9 in two schools in the Western Cape. The study does so, amongst other ways, by analysing the various texts learners are exposed to in English lessons and taking note of how teachers introduce and negotiate the different stages of writing. This study uses genre theory and Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) in combination with social constructivist approaches to language learning. This theory is based on the premise that language is functional and cannot be detached from the social context of the learner.A qualitative research paradigm is used and the study is underpinned by interpretive theory.According to Richards (2003), qualitative research is the study of human action in its natural setting in the context of people’s daily lives. In this case the school classroom has to function as the natural setting. The qualitative data collection instruments for this study include interviews,(particularly open-ended interviews), classroom observation schedules and audio recordings. The teaching processes in the classroom and interview sessions are recorded.The research participants for this study were two qualified English teachers. Secondly, samples of notebooks including class exercises of a selected numbers of learners of English Language in Grade 9 were collected for analysis with regard to the implementation of a text-based approach.The findings revolve round the themes derived from the analysis chapter, and are expected to provide ways of promoting the teaching of English using this approach. They reveal that the teachers in this study do not have sufficient understanding of the theories that underpin the teaching of writing in the English FAL curriculum. They attend to the use of text-based approach superficially but they apply other teaching strategies in their lessons during the teaching of English as a first additional language. The study concludes by summing up the main findings,and by spelling out some implications for further research.